How to Research Roman Things

Where do you start?

Nearly all or our information about Roman clothing comes from 3 main types of sources:

• Extant Art:
  • Small Arts: coins, jewelry, gold glass portraits, etc.
  • Sculpture: statues, busts, reliefs, statuettes
  • Funerary Art: tombstones, sarcophogi, encaustic paintings
  • Other Large Arts: frescoes, mosaics, graffiti, etc.
• Extant written works:
  • Roman Laws: Ius publicum, Ius privatum, and sumptuary laws
  • Roman Literature: poetry, satire, history, rhetoric, plays (comedy & tragedy), and letters/misc. documents
• Extant Remains:
  • Textile fragments, extant clothing, and other textiles items
  • Household goods including both useful and decorative items
  • Leather goods including shoes, belts, saddles, bags and other items
  • Burials, including not only the remains of the deceased but also their grave goods

Each type of source comes with it's own "pros & cons". Understanding the benefits, drawbacks, and appropriate context of each type of source is an important part of historical research.

Using Roman Art for Researching Clothing & Textiles

Rome was a society that expressed itself visually. Huge quantities of art were produced for use in both public venues and private homes. The human figure was the main motif in Roman art and the depiction of humans (and gods/goddesses in human forms) were highly codified and stylized:

• Ordinary (mortal, aka "real") humans (men, women, and children) are *NORMALLY* depicted fully clothed
• Gods, goddesses, and heroes are *usually* depicted in some form of "archaic" clothing, which might mean naked, partially clothed, and/or with their nipples showing for female goddesses, wearing diadems/crowns, and holding symbols of their power(s). "Archaic" clothing for the Romans typically means dressing them in Greek styles, such as the peplos or chiton.
• Empresses, especially those who were deified, were frequently depicted as goddesses. In such cases, their clothing and hairstyles are fashionably Roman rather than archaic Greek, but the coded elements of the goddesses they portray are added.
• Empresses and wives, when not depicted in the guise of a goddess, are almost always in some version of the "good wife" outfit of tunica, stola, and palla and are portrayed in the modesty pose, called the pudicitia, to reinforce their image as a "good wife of high reputation". This remains true even after the "good wife" outfit is no longer in fashion.
• The portrayal of real humans in the guise of gods/goddesses varied -
  • Empresses were frequently depicted "as" goddesses, especially if they were deified after their death. They were normally depicted: fully clothed in the traditional "good wife" outfit, but with their nipples showing through the fabric of their clothing; wearing the contemporary hairstyle they were known for; wearing the diadem and other jewelry of the goddess; and holding the symbol of the goddess being depicted.
  • Emperors were more likely to be depicted partially clothed when in the guise of a god as there was no stigma attached to it
  • There was a fashion in the Antonine period (138-193 CE) for non-Imperial couples to have themselves depicted as gods and goddesses, especially Venus & Mars
  • Gods, goddesses, and heroes tend to be depicted in specific garments and/or accessories based on their Greek prototypes
    • These garments are often stylized versions of "archaic" dress, sometimes blended with elements of contemporary fashion (similarly to how fairy tale books today depict the characters in "archaic" but historically inaccurate clothing, and how biblical scenes are depicted)
    • The symbolic clothing of gods/goddesses includes:
      • naked or half-dressed men, and women who are naked, half-dressed, or have displayed nipples
      • women wearing a skimpy "tube dress" (likely the archaic vestis longa)
      • women with their dress falling off one shoulder, possibly with one breast exposed
      • Mars & Venus = a man naked, but wearing a helmet and/or carrying a weapon, and a woman totally or partially naked
      • holding symbols associated with specific gods or goddesses in their hands (for example: Neptune's trident, Juno's diadem & pomegranate, Minerva's owl, Apollo's bow & arrows, Ceres' cornucopia, etc.)
      • wearing a crown or diadem - in general, only women of the Imperial family and goddesses wore diadems.
• In this case a diadem refers to a "tiara-shaped" or "crown-shaped" crown or coronet which stands up from the surface of the head. Other Roman women are depicted wearing cloth and/or metal plain or decorated bands which lie flat on the head.
  • In the late 3rd century CE there was a movement to depict gods and goddesses in less archaic dress, but they are still not wearing real, contemporary dress either (think of the depictions of Saints during the Renaissance)

• The primary aim of Roman artists was *not* to render accurate, detailed representations of current clothing styles (unfortunately)
  • Roman artists had a deep reverence for ancient Greek art, and made many copies of Greek-era statues
  • Roman artists used a catalogue of stylistic conventions that conveyed important messages about the people represented in the art to their audience
• Much of the extant Roman-era art that is readily available to us today is either unlabeled, partially labeled, mislabeled, and inaccurately dated, and/or not dated at all
  • Other common issues encountered by amateur researchers:
    • No back or side views available of many sculptures
    • "Artistic" camera angles
    • Non-Roman works in the Roman style (often unlabled) are often mistaken for Roman art by amateurs

Go to Issues with Roman Art

Issues with Roman Art

Issues with Roman Sculpture:

• In general, only the people with money to pay for it are represented
• Formal poses use formal clothing, which may not represent what was actually worn in daily life
• “Economy Statues” used standard bodies wearing standard clothing paired with semi-customizable heads
• Most sculptures appear to have been painted in period, so most small details were not sculpted – that was the painter’s job. Now those details are almost entirely lost.
• Depictions showing everyday life and/or members of the lower classes may have been idealized and/or exaggerated for effect
• The art of sculpture focused on the play of light and shadow on the folds of cloth, so sculptures tend to show heavy folds of cloth, whether it was realistic or not
• Some statues for rich clients have holes were real jewelry, sleeve “buttons”, diadems, and other details were attached. These have all disappeared, leaving only the holes to show where things were attached.
• Most sculptures (and Roman art in general) does not have labels, names, or captions. The clues provided in the art itself, and the location of the piece, were all the captioning the Roman people needed for many public works.
• The Empresses were the fashion icons of their time:
  • Most of the Empresses created their own unique hairstyle, though some had several hairstyles over their reign and a few wore a version of a hairstyle made famous by a predecessor.
  • These hairstyles can be used to roughly date artwork because they changed so frequently, but….
  • Some non-Imperial women did not change their hairstyles as they aged, or were portrayed with the hairstyle of their youth

Issues with Roman Paintings & Mosaics:

• Roman paintings include frescoes, encaustic (mummy) paintings, etc.
• Egyptian encaustic paintings are limited to a specific region of the Empire and usually show only the head and shoulders
• Frescoes often portray myths and legends, rather than real life.
• The characters are frequently gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, etc.
• The characters are often wearing stylized versions of archaic clothing (like fairy tale books, biblical illustrations, etc.)
• Frescoes reflect the taste and interests of the person who commissioned the artwork
• Damage to the paintings themselves, and chemical changed in the paint due to atmospheric issues, may have changed the colors and affected the paintings, making them difficult to interpret
• Mosaics usually simplified all elements of the subject being portrayed
• Mosaics also tend to portray myths and legends, therefore using archaic clothing